Thai Orange Peanut Chicken (Grilled or Baked)

I’ve included instructions to both grill or bake your Thai Peanut Chicken so you can make it year round. Because you are going to want to devour this chicken year round because of the sauce. oh the sauce. The Thai Peanut Orange Sauce is so out of this world you will want to slather it on everything!

“Jen, we made this for family dinner tonight and it was AMAZING. Everyone was raving and I shared your blog. We put the rub on the chicken, then grilled it on the BBQ, and then tossed it with the sauce. It was soooooo yummy. Keep up the amazing work!”

Since reading that comment, I have been wanting to post a grill versison for sometime. So here you go!

For this Thai Orange Peanut Chicken (Grilled or Baked) I used bone-in skinless chicken thighs because they are the absolute juciest chicken meat in my opinion. I love using them when I am grilling/baking chicken that stands on its own and is not going to be cut up and used in tacos/salads etc. Feel free to use boneless skinless chicken thighs or even chicken breasts but just be aware that they will require less cooking time.

To start, we marinate our Thai Orange Peanut Chicken (Grilled or Baked) in soy sauce, orange juice, brown sugar and olive oil. You can skip this step all together if you don’t have the time as it just adds another layer of juiceness/flavor but the chicken will still be delicious without it (but more amazing with it 🙂 ). What I love about a marinade though is you can throw your chicken in the marinade/fridge and let the tenderizeing flavor bath do its work while you totally forget its there.

When you’re ready to bake/grill your chicken, its always a good idea to let it sit for 30 minutes in order to cook more evenly. We take advantage of this time but rubbing our chicken all over with a wet spice rub of ginger, garlic, onion powder, paprka, cumin, salt and pepper. hellllo flavor!

And now the real star of the show – the Thai Orange Peanut Sauce. The ingredient list is a little lengthy, but it really does come togther very quickly with a quick whisking together of soy sauce, orange juice, orange marmalade, and splashes of ketchup, rice vinegar and fish sauce that we then simmer for 7-10 minutes. This thickens the sauce but more imporantly intensifies the flavors as it reduces. After slightly thickened, stir in your luscious peanut butter to add that irrestibe nutty flavor.

And now we smother…

Garnish with peanuts and cilantro…

And giddly devour with rice and veggies for one of your new favorite meals. ever. or at least I hope so!

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Phenomenally juicy, flavorful Thai Orange Peanut Chicken is is one of my favorite sweet, tangy savory chicken recipes ever! I've included instructions to both grill or bake your Thai Peanut Chicken so you can make it year round. Because you are going to want to devour this chicken year round because of the sauce. oh the sauce. The Thai Peanut Orange Sauce is so out of this world you will want to slather it on everything!

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Prep Time

30minutes

Cook Time

25minutes (for grilled)

Servings

chicken thighs

Ingredients

9bone-in chicken thighsskin removed (3 lbs.)

Marinade (optional)

1/4cuplow sodium soy sauce

1/4cuporange juice

2tablespoonsbrown sugar

1/3cupolive oil

Wet Rub

2tablespoonolive oil

1tspEACH ground ginger, garlic pwder

1/2tspEACH onion pwdr, paprika, ground cumin, salt

1/4teaspoonpepper

Thai Orange Peanut Sauce

1/3cuplow sodium soy sauce

1/2cuporange juice

1/2cuporange marmalade

2tablespoonsketchup

1tablespoonrice vinegar

1tablespoonfish sauce

1/4cuppacked brown sugar

1teaspoonSriracha/ Asian hot chili saucemore or less to taste

Add later:

1/3cupsmooth peanut butter(may sub. crunchy)

Garnish

Chopped roasted peanuts

cilantro

Prep Time

30minutes

Cook Time

25minutes (for grilled)

Servings

chicken thighs

Ingredients

9bone-in chicken thighsskin removed (3 lbs.)

Marinade (optional)

1/4cuplow sodium soy sauce

1/4cuporange juice

2tablespoonsbrown sugar

1/3cupolive oil

Wet Rub

2tablespoonolive oil

1tspEACH ground ginger, garlic pwder

1/2tspEACH onion pwdr, paprika, ground cumin, salt

1/4teaspoonpepper

Thai Orange Peanut Sauce

1/3cuplow sodium soy sauce

1/2cuporange juice

1/2cuporange marmalade

2tablespoonsketchup

1tablespoonrice vinegar

1tablespoonfish sauce

1/4cuppacked brown sugar

1teaspoonSriracha/ Asian hot chili saucemore or less to taste

Add later:

1/3cupsmooth peanut butter(may sub. crunchy)

Garnish

Chopped roasted peanuts

cilantro

Votes: 0 Rating: 0

Rate this recipe!

Instructions

Marinade

Add Marinade ingredients to a large freezer bag and whisk to combine. Add chicken, remove excess air, seal and turn to coat. Marinate 4 hours up to overnight.

Wet Rub

When ready to grill, remove chicken from marinade and dab off any excess. Place chicken on a baking sheet. Mix Wet Rub Spices with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Rub evenly over both sides of chicken. Let sit 20-30 minutes.

Thai Orange Peanut Sauce

Meanwhile, whisk all Thai Orange Peanut Sauce ingredients together EXCEPT Peanut Butter in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer for approximately 7-10 minutes or until reduced and slightly thickened, stirring occasionally (it will thicken more as you add peanut butter and upon standing so make sure it’s not too thick).

Stir in peanut butter until smooth. If sauce thickens too much before serving then return to heat and whisk in a little water to thin.

GRILL DIRECTIONS

Grease and heat grill to medium heat. Add chicken, cover, and cook 6-8 minutes per side, or until no longer pink and an inside thermometer registers 165 degrees F.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat one tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Add chicken (you will need to work in batches), and sear 2-3 minutes per side.

Add chicken to a foil lined, greased 9x13 pan (for easy cleanup), COVER with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove foil cover, and continue to cook, uncovered an additional 15-20 minutes OR until an inside thermometer registers 165 degrees F at the thickest part of the chicken.

Comments

I don’t know what to say…………I have chicken thawing this morning…….but need it for pasta salad….I am for sure going to make this, maybe tomorrow and get back to you. I have no doubt that this orange chicken tastes as good as it looks (or you wouldn’t have posted it 🙂 Thank you. Wow!!!

I made this Orange Peanut Chicken last night and it was delicious. I had all of the ingredients in the house except the fish sauce, which I just omitted. It didn’t seem to affect the sauce. I roasted the chicken due to time constraints, but I think it would be even better grilled. Will definitely make again…

Thank you so much for the fabulous feedback Allie, and for the wonderul endorsement, I really appreciate it! I am so happy you loved this chicken so much and even found it “restaurant quality” – the ultimate compliment! I hope readers listen to urgings and make this chicken too 🙂 Thank you for all your awesome comments, I love hearing from you!

Made this for dinner tonight and it was EXCELLENT!!!!! I doubled this recipe! It was prepped and ready for the grill and then we realized we didn’t have propane 🙁 So I pulled out my pressure cooker! I seared my boneless chicken thighs and placed them in the pressure cooker and poured that YUMMY sauce in over the chicken. Cooked it for 14 minutes. I did have to add a little water/cornstarch mixture to thicken the sauce back up. SOOOO GOOD!!!! Will definitely make this again! On the Grill next time. 🙂

And I agree with Allie, it’s a SUPER SIMPLE recipe. But that’s one of the things I love about your recipes. 🙂

I am thrilled you loved so much Therese and found it simple too, thank you! And that is awesome you were able to make it in the pressure cooker – love that it cooked in 14 minutes, amazing! I still need to get a pressure cooker! Thank you for taking the time to comment, I always love hearing what you’ve been making!

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